UPDATE: Questionable kidnapping in Orangefield

Orange County Sheriff's deputies are investigating a possible kidnapping in Orange after a passerby saw a young woman who appeared to have been assaulted and who was bound with rope near the edge of the roadway in the 7100 block of Bessie Heights in Orangefield at approximately 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 17.

According to a news release from OCSO, deputies responded to the calling motorist's report and located the woman whose hands and feet were tied with rope, mouth duct taped closed and who was blindfolded. The woman was conscious, and she apparently suffered some minor abrasions, investigators report.

The victim, a Vidor resident in her 20's, told deputies that on Sunday evening, Feb. 16, she had gone with some friends to a home in the Orangefield area where they met up with several people with whom she was unfamiliar. According to the victim, while at the residence some type of "disagreement" occurred, and she was bound and had duct tape placed over her mouth. After some time passed, the unidentified assailants blindfolded the woman and drove her to Bessie Heights where they left her on the side of the road.

The investigation is ongoing, and the suspects are still being identified, according to the news release. OCSO Chief Deputy Clint Hodgkinson said investigators are still trying to determine whether or not an arrest is warranted, but added that the case is still being investigated as a kidnapping.

"Although the incident appears bizarre, investigators believe that this is an isolated case among those who were at the house where this incident occurred, and the community should not be alarmed," OCSO warned in the news release.

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